Michael Jackson- "Bad" - early CD pressing with different mixes

The early pressings of Michael Jackson's Bad has alternative mixes of Dirty Diana and I Just Can't Stop Loving You (which has a spoken word introduction). How can I identify the early CD edition of Bad which has these mixes on it? Thanks!

 

The easiest way to tell is that the original CD has a different catalog number from the remastered "Bad" CD. It's number is EK 40600. The original issue CD also doesn't have the bonus tracks that the reissue has. The only extra track the first issue CD has is "Leave Me Alone".

 

What differences could those "alternative mixes" be? I do know that once the hits started flowing from it, MJ went back and remixed some songs. I also know that he used a terrible-sounding single mix of "The Way You Make Me Feel" on the remaster to replace the original.

I have a first-run CD pressing.

 

So all non-Special Edition CDs have the Dirty Diana alt. mix and I Just Can't Stop Loving You with intro? I thought later editions of Bad (before the Special Edition) edited out the spoken intro?

 

Uh, don't call the original mixes "alternates". You actually have it backward.

The original CDs have the spoken intro.

 

Well they're alternative now because they're not the current standard album mixes being used these days. Don't blame me, blame MJ.

 

Yes. Those original mixes were replaced on the Special Edition CD of "Bad" in 2001. Though my guess is that those other mixes were initially released to radio stations only back in 1987 and 1988. I know for a fact that "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" was. The promo CD single serviced to radio had the spoken intro mixed out of the track.

 

I have the JPN for Europe of Bad and that has the spoken intro.

 

I guess you see it that way because you apparently didn't hear the album in 1987.

 

Yes. They were also the single mixes. The remix of The Way You Make Me Feel has the vocals way too loud.

 

What versiond of the BAD tracks are on HIStory?

 

Yes I did. Granted, I was 6 at the time so I wasn't paying much attention to the mixes, but I heard it damnit.

 

O.K., enough semantics over terminology. All copies with catalog number EK 40600 have one mix, and the remastered version has different mixes?

 

Is it true the "horns" (synths?) got mixed out of "The Way You Make Me Feel" at some point?

My original Bad CD has all the original mixes as does my Off The Wall CD....Grant, have you heard one of those babies yet?.....

 

"HIStory" has the original mixes of "Bad", "Man In The Mirror", and "The Way You Make Me Feel". The mix of "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" included is the one without the spoken intro.

 

It still amazes me that there's some 27 or 28 unreleased songs from the Bad sessions that we still havn't heard. That'd make a hell of a good box set. Maybe one day...

 

I agree. The MJ box set that was released was a real missed opportunity. Instead of putting the rarities and unreleased material that fans were really clamoring for, we ended up getting much less than that.

 

I can't quite agree with what is being suggested here. Things must have been different here in Canada. My original 1987 vinyl and Cassette copies of Bad contain the original mixes of everything including I Just Can't Stop Loving You with spoken intro. My 45RPM single of IJCSLY is backed with Baby Be Mine and also contains the spoken intro. However, local radio stations played what must have been a promo copy without the spoken intro. I finally got around to buying Bad on CD in the mid 1990's and it contains the later mixes of The Way You Make Me Feel and IJCSLY without spoken intro. It also contains Leave Me Alone.
Bob.

 

No, I hear them in both versions.

Yes. I have all of the original versions. I bought them as they were released.

I cannot stand to even listen to the single mixes from "Off The Wall"! I hate them! I had to do a needle drop of my original LP of the album.

 

My copy doesn't. My copy, which I bought on the day it was released, has the single remix. The vocals are too loud. The orignal mix is a little smoother and the vocals are back much further. My copy of HIStory is: E2K 59000

 

Correct. So did the U.S. versions of those and the CD.

That sounds the same for the U.S. as well. MJ was notorious for quietly altering albums after the fact, even if it was just the artwork.

 

Criminal shame that the original version of the Off The Wall lp isn't on cd - this, along with Bad should be labelled as a remix... I know "most" people don't care about "little details" like a single version being replaced on an album ... but this forum does!

 

I never had any idea these albums were changed when they came out on cd!!! I have most of the remastered MJ cds. Is there a comprehensive list somewhere that points out all of these "remixes" for a non-diehard MJ fan?

 

Off The Wall was changed even before the CD age! The first change showed up on second pressings and the CBS Mastersound LP of that album. Then, the front cover was altered in the early 90s when Sony reissued it on CD.

If we ever get to the day that MJ cannot have a say in how his albums are presented, I hope whomever owns the tapes will see fit to issue the albums with the original mixes and artwork, as they were.

 

Jeff H. or Brian W. can chime in, but:

ROCK WITH YOU - The single remix adds handclaps, has a different guitar line, and has less reverb added. The drums are also louder.

GET ON THE FLOOR - This one was really remixed! It's generally drier and the drums are louder. There are added vocal bits on the remix, and the overall sound is more sparse.

THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL - The remix is edgier, doesn't sound as digitally clean as the original mix, like it was dubbed to analog for the remix. It sounds more in-your-face, with less dynamic, and the vocals are upfront and loud. The synths are louder and more defined.